Digital health apps can make a big difference to your health and wellbeing, including improving sleep quality and keeping you active, according to a new study from University of South Australia researchers. 

Researchers examined data from 206,873 people across 47 studies, finding that digital health tools – like mobile apps, websites, and text messages – can significantly boost health and wellbeing by increasing physical activity and improving your diet and sleep. 

The study found mobile health interventions can help people achieve: 

• 1,329 more steps per day  

• 55 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week  

• 45 minutes more overall physical activity per week  

• 7 hours less sedentary behaviour a week  

• 103 fewer calories consumed per day  

• 20% more fruits and vegetables consumed per day  

• 5.5 grams less saturated fat consumed per day  

• 1.9 kilograms of weight loss over 12 weeks  

• Improved sleep quality  

Given global health challenges like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, lead researcher, UniSA’s Dr Ben Singh, says people’s health behaviours must change if we are to reduce the incidence of chronic disease. 

“With the rise of preventable chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, finding mechanisms that can help reduce people’s risk is important,” Dr Singh says. 

“Our study found that digital and mobile health interventions can have a positive effect on people’s health and wellbeing, not only helping them to increase their physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour, but also improving their diet and quality of sleep. 

“Given the wide accessibility and popularity of health apps, their capability to tailor information and deliver timely reminders and prompts, and scalability to diverse populations, they could be a very effective intervention to promote better health.” 

Dr Singh conceded that making positive changes to health and wellbeing can be a challenge but by incorporating digital tools into everyday life, people are more likely to achieve positive outcomes. 

The study identified consistent findings across different age groups, health behaviours, interventions, and health populations, indicating that digital health apps could help underpin broader public health campaigns. Researchers have now recommended further investigation to better understand impacts among specific groups of people.  

Read the full study here